Simplified marionette

ABSTRACT

A marionette is manipulated by only three cords. One of these cords, which may be elastic, is secured to the top of the head. The other two cords go down through the body commencing at the shoulders and are secured to the bottom of the legs.

United States Patent Palmer [451 Jan. 2,1973

[54] SlMPLIFIED MARIONETTE [76] Inventor: Richard F. Palmer, 3840 A Ivanhoe,

Shiller Park, Ill. 60176 [22] Filed: March 29, 1971 [2]] -Appl. N0.: 129,011

[52] US. Cl. ..46/l26 [51] Int. Cl. ..A63h 7/00 [58] Field of Search ..46/ 126 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,760,305 8/1956 Hetricknnm; ..'.....46/i26 3,195,265 7/l965 Marquez et a1 ..46/l26 Primary Examiner-Louis G. Mancene Assistant Examiner-J. Q. Lever Attorney-Barbe, Roberton & Vandenburgh [57 ABSTRACT A marionette is manipulated by only three cords. One of these cords, which may be elastic, is secured to the top of the head. The other two cords go down through the body commencing at the shoulders and are secured to the bottom of the legs.

3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJm 1973 2 I r f Ar 0 n O .a, 0 0 0 O 1 SIMPLIFIED MARIONETTE BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION require a high degree of skill to operate them properly.

lnvariably, some children who see a marionette show desire to operate a marionette by themselves. To this end, some marionettes have been madeand sold as toys. However, even a somewhat simple marionette is beyond the ability of a child to operate without many hours of practice. The result is that a child gets a marionette, plays with it briefly and then discards it because of the inability to operate it properly.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a simplified marionette which can be operated by a child having a moderate amount of dexterity without the necessity of having had hours of practice at doing so. It is one in which there is substantially less likelihood of the cords becoming entangled, a common difficulty with most other marionettes. To this end, there are only three cords, one of which is attached to the top of the head to support the whole body, the

other two go down through the'body to the bottom of the legs.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. '1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the manipulation of the marionette;

FIG. 3 is a partial section as viewed at line 3-3 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a section as viewed at line 4-4 of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENT The following disclosure is offered for public dissemination in return for the grant of a patent. Although it is detailed to ensure adequacy and aid understanding, this is not intended to prejudice that purpose of a patent which is to cover each new inventive concept therein no matter how others may later disguise it by variations in form or additions or further improvements. The claims at the end hereof are intended as the chief aid toward this purpose, as it is these that meet the requirement of pointing out the parts, improvements, or combinations in which the inventive concepts are found.

In the illustrated embodiment there is a clown whose of wood simulating feet 12. The arms 13 have small pieces of wood or plastic at the ends thereof simulating hands 14. Within the shoulder area of the torso is a block 15 of solid material, such as wood or plastic between the fabric layers. Of course, the top of the body has a head 16.

A pair of crossed sticks 18 and 19 are secured to each other and form the handle by which the marionette is manipulated. A cord 20 extends from the end of the center stick l8 and is secured to the to of the head 16. A cord 21 extends from the left end of stick 19 through the left shoulder and a hole 22 in block 15, through the left side of the torso, through the left leg, and is secured to the bottom end of the left leg 10. A third cord 23 similarly is affixed to the right end of stick l9 and extends through the right side of the body, including the block 15, and is secured to the bottom end of the right leg.

The marionette is manipulated -by grasping the center stick 18 of the handle. Cord 20 is employed to hold the marionette upright and at approximately the desired level with respect to the floor. Then by rocking stick 19 back and forth (first raising one end and then the other) the marionette is made to walk, dance or jump around. The soft fabric of the body enables one leg to be raised without substantially affecting the position of the remainder of the body. This is illustrated in FIG. 2. The fact that the cords 21 and 23 extenddown through the body tend to stabilize the body and lessen the possibility of entanglement of the cords.

In some embodiments, it has been found to be particularly desirable to have cord 20 of elastic material, i.e., something that stretches as does rubber as compared to only the very limited elasticity of cotton string. In another embodiment, in which the head was particularly large and formed of a relatively rigid material, the cords 21 and 23 have extendeddown through vertical openings in the head and then through the torso to the bottom of the legs.

I claim: 1. In a marionette comprising a head part, a shoulder part, arms extending out from the shoulder part, lower torso and legs depending from the shoulder part and a plurality of cords by which it may be manipulated, the improvement comprising:

one of said parts being relatively rigid, one of said cords extending freely and vertically through said one part at one side of the body, and through the lower'torso and leg at said one side of the body and being affixed to the lower end of said a second of said cords extending freely and vertically through said one part at the other side of the body, and through the lower torso and leg at said other side of the body and being affixed to the lower end of said leg at said other side of the body, and g a third of said cords being secured to the top of said head part.

2. In a marionette as set forth in claim 1, wherein said third cord is elastic.

3. In a marionette as set forth in claim 2, wherein said one part is the shoulder part. 

1. In a marionette comprising a head part, a shoulder part, arms extending out from the shoulder part, lower torso and legs depending from the shoulder part and a plurality of cords by which it may be manipulated, the improvement comprising: one of said parts being relatively rigid, one of said cords extending freely and vertically through said one part at one side of the body, and through the lower torso and leg at said one side of the body and being affixed to the lower end of said leg, a second of said cords extending freely and vertically through said one part at the other side of the body, and through the lower torso and leg at said other side of the body and being affixed to the lower end of said leg at said other side of the body, and a third of said cords being secured to the top of said head part.
 2. In a marionette as set forth in claim 1, wherein said third cord is elastic.
 3. In a marionette as set forth in claim 2, wherein said one part is the shoulder part. 